Pricing is a strategy rather than a number, and in Australia it is also a regulated one. Whether you go to auction or to market with a price, what you publish has to be something you would genuinely consider.
Both are normal. Which suits a property depends on how many buyers are likely to want it and how confident anybody can be about what it is worth.
Competition sets the price on the day, and a successful auction contract is usually unconditional — in most states a buyer at auction has no cooling-off period at all. It suits properties with several likely buyers and no obvious comparable. It also concentrates the campaign into a few weeks and a single date, and if it passes in you are negotiating from a known position.
You publish a price or a range and negotiate. It gives buyers more time, which suits properties where the buyer pool is smaller or needs to arrange finance or a sale of their own. Cooling-off rules generally do apply, and they differ by state.
State requirements change. In Victoria, new rules started on 1 October 2026: the Property Price Statement replaces the Statement of Information. Reserve-price disclosure applies to auctions and fixed-date sales held from 16 October 2026. Your agent should confirm the current documents, disclosure deadlines and comparable-sale requirements with Consumer Affairs Victoria before advertising.
Underquoting — advertising a price the seller would not accept, or one below a figure the agent has already told you the property is worth — is an offence in several states, with real penalties for the agent. In practice that means the guide has to be supported by comparable sales, and your agent should be able to show you the ones they used.
Start with an instant appraisal A dated range for your address and the local market it sits in — the background you want before an agent gives you their opinion. Appraise my home
The highest number an agent quotes you is not a forecast. Ask each of them which comparable sales it comes from — that question separates an opinion from a pitch.
A home draws its most engaged buyers in the first couple of weeks, when it is new to everyone watching that suburb. Priced above what those buyers will pay, it passes them by, and the reductions that follow are made to a smaller and less interested audience. Homes that sit are also read as having something wrong with them, which becomes true of the negotiation even when it is not true of the house.
Your published price guide must be supported by evidence and comply with the rules in your state. Do not deliberately underquote to attract a larger crowd. Ask your agent to explain the comparable sales, the estimated selling price and when the guide needs updating. Auction competition can determine the final result; it does not remove the obligations that apply to the advertised guide.
Communities.com.au